Readme for Dreckbak ver3.c

THE NAME:
Yes!!! Many of you have inquired about the name, DreckBak. The word "dreck" comes from the secret, mystical, and almost forgotten language of the Illuminatti. A vernacular translation is "Crap" Since there is a feature to exclude directories and files from your backup to avoid having a lot of needless CRAP in your backup set, hence the name "DreckBak" (G)

REQUIREMENTS:
No special hardware required. All you need is an OS/2 system and some hard disk space on any device that has a drive letter! There's no longer an excuse to have NO BACKUP.

OVERVIEW:
Thank you for evaluating this simple backup solution. In my experience, many computer users do not have a workable backup strategy, and in too many cases, none at all. The enclosed program will help solve this problem with minimal expense and hassle. While neither elegant nor sexy, it does the job. It will back up in ZIP format to either a Hard Drive, or removable media, such as an ORB or SyJet drive. It can also create the backups on the Hard disk and copy it to another drive. (Removable media?) I use this to back up my 3 critical partitions daily and have been able to successfully restore my boot drive PAINLESSLY using the zip files created by this utility. You can also EASILY access any file in the archive using any program, or file manager, that can handle a zip file. (Yes Mr. OldDos, you can use the unzip command line) Quick and easy restorations of specific files and/or directories are a snap.

LEGAL STUFF:
This software is guaranteed to do nothing but take up disk space. Your system may blow up, your drives may fry, your mate could run off with the cable guy. (Sorry Jim) You might hit the lottery. Monica Lewinsky may run for president. Howard Stern could get an Oscar for Fartman. Elvis may come back. None of it is not my fault!! You, the user, assume all risk and responsibility for any damage or data loss to your system. I will not be liable for anything as the result of your use of these files. CHECK YOUR EDITING

I have no reason to expect that this utility will cause any damage of any kind, but beware---- especially if you have no backup strategy!!

   INSTALLATION:
 

  

      1) Copy the contents of this package to any temporary directory
      
  

      2) Run INSTALL.EXE and follow the prompts. It will create all of the program objects, including the main utilities,
      	all of the DOCS, Editing objects, all needed directories, and the support site URL object.
      
  

      3) Install SCHEDB2.ZIP or a CRON program for scheduled, automatic backups
      
  

      4) Open the DreckBak folder that was created on your desktop, and also open the DreckBak EDIT ME Folder.
      
  

      5) Double click on "Edit DreckBak.
      
  

      6) Edit the "SET STATEMENTS" at the top of DreckBak.cmd to reflect your system setup.
      	(note: some entries are not yet implemented)
      	The settings here only affect DreckBak - and NOT FreshBak. 
      	SET TEMP=f:\temp   (choose a directory on a drive with the most space)
                 SET PATH=d:\ztb;d:\dreckbak; (you only need the path to DreckBak and ZIP)
                 SET BACKDIR=J:\FRESHBAK (Directory to keep you backup zips) {no need to edit as above}
                 SET LOGDIR=D:\LOGS (Directory to store LOG files) {No need to edit as above}
                 SET HOMEDIR=D:\DRECKBAK (Directory that DreckBak resides in) {No need to edit as above}
                 SET BACKDRV=J: (Drive Letter only of BACKDIR above) {No need to edit as above}
                 SET BACKDIR0=FRESHBAK (Directory name ONLY of BACKDIR above) {No need to edit.......}
                 SET COPYDRV=K: (Drive letter to copy backups to - this is an optional feature, and not required)
                 SET COPYDIR=FRESHBAK (Directory to copy backups to - optional feature)
                 SET ZIPDIR=D:\ZTB (Location of ZIP.exe and UNZIP.exe) {No need to edit....etc}
                 SET ZIPOPT=-rgSu9Tv (Options to control ZIP behavior - see zip.doc for info)
      		(Above line does not need to be edited, and I recommend you not change it unless you know what you 
      		are doing, except the number (9) which is best size, longest time)
      
  

      7) After you are sure that all of the edits are correct, Type the word "REM" in front of the sixth 
                  line of the file. This line was included  as a safety feature to prevent you from running the
                  program before editing.
      
  

      8) If you are using the included SCHEDB2.ZIP, open the Properties (settings) notebook for the DRECKBAK 
                 program object. Set the backup times and dates on the Schedule Page of the Properties Notebook.
      
  

      9) Double Click the "Edit FreshBak" object and edit the file as described above. (There are fewer entries in this file)
      
  

      10) If needed, edit "Edit test.lst" It is pre-configured to exclude un-needed files and directories (Dreck) for most systems. It is
      	not necessary to remove any entries here. Invalid entries are ignored. You may add any files or directories
      	that you wish to exclude from your backup.

   I keep all of the package on my Maintenance Partition (Drive D), and have program objects both there, and on my main 
   desktop (Drive E) as well. Be sure that ZIP.EXE and UNZIP.EXE are present on your system as well. The default location 
   is d:\ZTB. You can choose any drives or directories to use, but you MUST edit the CMD files as described above
   to reflect your choices. If you are going to use a CRON program to automate the backups, or if you use the 
   included WPS extension, EBSCHED,  you can set the DreckBak object to start minimized. For best results, critical 
   backups should be done from the maintenance partition to avoid any problems with opened files.
   (I have successfully restored using an archive created from my main boot partition, but the GURU's say this is a 
   No-No, so be advised.)
   This utility will not abort the backup in this case, but will report that files could not be opened, post a warning 
   in the warn log, and make some mild noises. 
   I have the program objects on both the main boot partition, and the Maint partition pointing to the same files.
   

Install SCHEDB2 for automation. (Any other CRON or scheduler will work if you do not wish to use the enclosed program.) Be sure to set the last page in the settings notebook for DrekBak.cmd for the schedule. I have been unable to contact the author of SCHEDB2 in over a year, so I do not know the current status of this software. It does work very well for me but there is a small bug. Trying to change a schedule will hang the computer. REMOVE the schedule item and ADD the revision. Everything else works fine.

Before getting started using DreckBak for regular backups, create a backup of each partition on your system. Use the FreshBak object to do this. If you have enough removable media, or hard disk space, be sure to back up all partitions that you wish to be able to easily recreate.

Now you are ready to use DreckBak to make regular, frequent, scheduled backups.

Remember, the safest backup is one that is not located with your computer, so use removable media if possible, and rotate them. Consider that if you are backing up to your hard drive, you will not be protected against any problems that may affect your drive. A second physical drive is better than a partition on a drive that you are backing up. Although most Hard Disk problems can be corrected with FDISK or CHKDSK, if your machine cannot read your drive, it cannot read your backup, either. Even if you do not have removable media, backing up to your hard drive is FAR better than no backup at all.

DreckBak.CMD calls FILZ.EXE which manages existing backup zips and feeds a command line and parameters to ZIP.EXE, produced by Info-Zip. You must first edit DreckBak.cmd DreckBak.CMD assumes that FILZ.EXE, test.lst, BEEP.EXE and LOGIT.EXE are all in the DRECKBAK directory on drive D: This is not required. You may edit the files to reflect the locations you wish to use.. (Drive D is my maintenance partition) The file, test.lst may be edited to point to every directory that you DO NOT want backed up. Prime examples would be TMP, TEMP,and CACHE Some other good ones may be x:\TCPIP\TMP and x:\NETSCAPE\PROGRAM\USER\USERNAME\CACHE. It's a good idea to include items on all of your drives, not just the ones that you will back up using DreckBak. FRESHBAK.CMD will use this file when creating a backup of any drive. There is no need to delete invalid directories in this file. They will be ignored. Most of the commonly excluded directories are already in the file, assuming your boot drive is either C, D, or E.

The default destination directory for the zips to be stored in is j:\freshbak. Be sure that there is sufficient space for your backups. This program will keep 2 sets. If you do not have enough space, you will get an error posted to the log file and hear a series of beeps. Either create this directory (done by the install program) or edit DreckBak.CMD to reflect the correct directory for your system. If using removable media, be sure the directory exists on all media that you will use, or edit the CMD file to just use the root directory.

The directory I use to store the log files is d:\logs. Either create this directory (also done by the install) or edit for your system. The logs for each backed up partition are overwritten on each run. The BACKUP.LOG and INTEGRITY.LOG are appended.

DreckBak is set to backup drives F, E, and C (can be changed during the install, or any later time) and to TWICE verify the integrity of the backup . You can either add more drives by entering them at the prompt during the install, or later by changing the parameters line in the DreckBak.CMD Properties notebook.

Unless you have Mucho Hard disk space, I advise you to set this up to backup the largest drives first and smallest last. Zip will create temporary files during the backup in your TEMP directory, as defined in the SET commands. (Default is F:\TEMP) There must be enough room on that drive to hold this file.

RESTORING a Backup:

Example: "j:\freshbak\H_Ebak.zip" "e:\" This will restore the file H_Ebak.zip to the root directory of drive E.

To restore your boot drive, you must be either booted to a Maintenance partition or to Floppy disks. If you do not have WPS support, just call at the OS/2 prompt, "drive:\path\UNZIP.EXE SourceDrive:\Filename.zip -d TargetDrive:\ " You will need to have unzip available on the floppy, or the path set to point to it on your hard drive.

Many files on the boot drive are READ ONLY. They will not be restored unless you change the attributes. For a clean, quick restore, format the drive first. (Type HELP FORMAT for more info) (format c: /FS:HPFS)

Also be aware that empty directories will not be restored. You can use the included "dummy.dat" zero byte file in your empty directories as a placeholder to be sure that restores will recreate these directories. Also, any directories that you have excluded by listing them in the TEST.LST will likewise NOT be recreated. By default, TEMP, TMP, DELETE, and x:\TCPIP\TMP will not be recreated, as well as some others. Simply recreate them after the restore.

** Notes** The following line will be logged in the warn log at the creation of each archive . It is not an error. You will not see this if you you use the FRESHBAK.CMD object to update an existing ZIP.

"zip warning: j:/freshbak/H_Fbak.zip not found or empty"

You will need to have unzip available from the floppy if using that to restore. Also be aware that empty and excluded directories will not be restored. You can use the enclosed dummy.dat zero byte file in your empty directories to be sure that restores will recreate these directories.

SUGGESTION:
FRESHBAK.CMD:
This object will allow the creation, or the freshening, of a zip file. You may specify any drive, directory or filename for the zip, as well as the source, and logfile name. This can be used to back up an entire drive or just a portion of the drive tree. (ie: x:\TCPIP - Will back up the TCPIP directory, as well as all subdirectories). It will also freshen (add new or changed files to) existing zip files. This is usefull when you have a drive that has files that change or are added. Freshbak will update the existing backup file with the new or changed files. It will not remove any files, so files no longer on the drive will still be in the backup.

I use this approach on the partition that holds downloadable files for the users of my BBS. Files are added to this drive frequently, but almost never are there deletions.

TO-DO: Rewrite install program to automatically edit the set commands. Re-Write the entire program to use a separate configuration file.

Any suggestions and help are QUITE WELCOME!!!!

CREDITS:
I have included Logit.exe and its docs by Julian Buss. It is FREEWARE. Beep.exe is also a freeware utility contained in the FM2UTILS.zip by M. Kimes. Info-Zip programs (Zip and Unzip) are available on most major OS2 sites. Some Icons taken from the Icon Heaven collection by The Frobozz Magic Software Company.

All other files in this archive written by Murray Weismer.

Many thanks go out to a "buddy" that I found in one of the OS/2 newsgroups whose input has been indispensible in improving this program.

SUPPORT:
If you have any comments, suggestions, improvements, bug reports, or problems, please contact me at the support web site below or E-mail me or log on to RPS.BBS at 215-624-8960

The latest version of this program, along with some screen shots may be found at weismer.virtualave.net Easy access by clicking the URL object in the DreckBak folder.

Murray Weismer

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 Member "Philadelphia Area Computer Society (PACS)
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            http://www.phillyos2.org for info.
 

ENJOY!